The two Demonic Enforcers snapped toward Nick the moment he came into view, their fell flames flaring high and melting the surrounding snow, clearly recognizing him from their last encounter.
"Take the puppets," Nick told the siblings. "These are mine.”
Gaelen and Rhea broke away to intercept the charging line of Elite Homunculi. They’d both grown stronger since leaving Floria, if not as much as he had, and they’d been preparing for this battle for years. He could trust them to hold their own, especially with Rosmaria there to watch their backs.
Nick stepped forward to face the demons. During their last encounter, he’d been limited by his own foolishness and could only cast regular spells.
As demons, the magics of the lower realm tended to weaken in their presence, which meant he’d only managed to annoy them.
Things would be different now. With a dark grin, he opened his connection to the World.
The planet’s golden lifeblood rushed into him, filling him with an unknowable power that flooded his mana coils and sharpened his mind. He wove this energy into his reserves, refining it until it became one, then fed it into the Shard.
It felt eager, like an old battle-companion happy to be reunited, and he tried to echo the sentiment. If he could have, he would have done so before, but the past was the past, and now he had a chance to get even.
The first Enforcer, more limber than its fellow, lunged, closing the distance in a single bound. It brought a flaming fist down toward Nick’s skull, intending to stop him before he could get started.
To its surprise, he stepped into the strike. At level ninety-five, his physical attributes were razor-sharp, and he was free of the ritual backlash that had hindered him in their last fight.
He brought the Shard up, parrying the demon’s forearm with a kinetic shield that rang like a struck bell under the impact but held, allowing him to retaliate.
Driving his free hand forward, he unleashed a torrent of water infused with the World’s mana, creating a golden flood.
The demon fought back, trying to evaporate the moisture, but while some of the water boiled off, too much remained and soon smothered the black fire. Not one to let anything go to waste, Nick grabbed the scalding cloud with [Conceptual Steam], and the demon shrieked, stumbling backward as the vapor blistered its twisted flesh, inflicting far more damage than he had the last time.
Out of the corner of his eye, Nick saw one of the Homunculi abruptly veer away from Gaelen. The stone tile beneath its stitched feet had shifted upward by an inch—just enough to throw it off balance and send it stumbling into Nick’s periphery.
Normally, he would have dismissed it as part of the battlefield's chaos, but his senses were honed enough to notice the flicker of mana, and the homunculus's positioning was simply too favorable.
He watched it become engulfed in his steam, burning as it stumbled, until it proved too much.
CONGRATULATIONS!
You have participated in the defeat of [Elite Homunculus - Level 84]
+71,220 Exp
The second demon didn’t give him time to capitalize, roaring as it swung a clawed hand through the leftover steam. An arc of black fire cut across the courtyard.
Nick ducked under it, weaving a tight coil of [Zealous Flame] around the tip of his staff. He met the demon’s next strike head-on, slamming the spiritual fire directly into the creature.
As expected, the conflicting concepts detonated, and the Enforcer staggered. Demonic fire ate away at holy flames, but the sheer force he’d imparted to the blow rippled through the air, sending it crashing into a wall and cracking its sternum.
Another homunculus flew into Nick’s line of sight, propelled by a sudden burst of air venting from an ornate grate in the courtyard wall.
Nick caught the airborne abomination in a point-blank burst of red lightning, stopping its artificial heart before it hit the ground.
CONGRATULATIONS!
You have participated in the defeat of [Elite Homunculus - Level 81]
+65,611 Exp
She's feeding them to me, Nick realized, a grim smile tugging at his lips. The Matriarch was keeping her power in reserve for the coming confrontation, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t use the estate's mechanisms to manipulate the battlefield and funnel experience directly to him.
He would have thought she’d prefer to favor her grandchildren, but a quick look showed they were far too busy dealing with their own troubles to take advantage of such chances.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Soon, the two demons recovered their footing, their power surging as they prepared to rush him together.
Uninterested in playing around, Nick drew more deeply on the World's lifeblood, letting it flood his limbs. He slammed the Shard into the floor, unleashing a sweeping [Righteous Gale] that struck the first demon in the chest, cutting deeply and throwing it off balance.
Slipping away from the second’s charge, he put Xander’s lessons into practice, closing the gap and driving the butt of his staff into the staggered demon's knee, shattering the joint. As the creature fell forward, Nick pressed his palm flat against its burning forehead.
The World sang its fury in his ears, all too eager to grant him the power he needed to drive the invaders away. The burst of kinetic mana that shot straight down through its skull was strong enough to destroy the corrupted brain and shatter the abyssal anchor tethering it to the physical plane.
CONGRATULATIONS!
You have defeated [Sakaska, Demonic Enforcer, Seed - Level 98]
+419,000 Exp
Level up!
The system notification rang in his mind like a church bell. The System recognized the eradication of the World’s hated enemy, rewarding him with a staggering surge of experience.
The remaining demon shrieked a multi-tonal cry that cracked the surviving stained-glass windows along the courtyard walls. It abandoned all defense, hurling itself at Nick in a frenzy of claws and black fire.
Gladly, he met the charge. [Stream of Consciousness] smashed directly into its face, momentarily blinding its esoteric senses. In the split second of hesitation, Nick wove the remaining golden mana in his coils into a singular, devastating [Bolt of Wrath].
Crimson lightning erupted from his hands, thicker than ever and crackling with the planet’s own anger. It struck the demon square in the chest, tearing through the fell flames and ripping a hole through its torso.
The creature froze as the fell fire died out, before collapsing into a heap of smoking ash.
It isn’t truly dead, I know. I might even face it again. But that had to hurt. It will take a while to reform, even in the depths of the Abyss.
CONGRATULATIONS!
You have defeated [Athoraraks, Demonic Enforcer, Seed - Level 99]
+481,000 Exp
You have achieved a Minor Feat!
Rid the World of That Which Bubbles Below’s seed.
+1,750,000 Exp
Level up!
Level up!
The rush of experience hit him a moment later, and he staggered. The sheer density of his soul was almost painful, pressing against the limits of mortal existence. His mana coils expanded, vibrating with a thrumming power that warped the air around him at his mere presence.
He took a slow, deep breath, forcing the violent energy to settle into his bones.
So close. I can feel it. Just two more levels, and I’ll step into the realm of demigods.
The Minor Feat had taken him by surprise. He’d not expected it, at least not now, but he wouldn’t complain about more experience, even if it cast even more confusion over what was truly going on.
Is That Which Bubbles Below the demon Ephor contracted with? What does being its seed mean? If not, does that mean multiple Greater Demons are at work here?
If that were the case, things might be even more dangerous than he’d believed. The Minor Feat had granted him more exp than anything but a Major Feat so far, which made him suspect he was only seeing the tip of the iceberg.
I’ll find out soon. Now is not the time to space out.
Across the courtyard, Gaelen and Rhea were still fighting the last of the Elite Homunculi, but a quick barrage of spiritual spells gave them enough leeway to deliver deadly blows.
CONGRATULATIONS!
You have participated in the defeat of [Elite Homunculus - Level 81-87] x5
+187,699 Exp
Around them, the Black Hounds poured over the walls, an unstoppable tide of steel. They struck the surviving Ultimer guards like a wave, overrunning the automated turrets and tearing the defenders apart.
Nick briefly mourned the experience. If he’d been faster, he might have been the one to reap those lives himself.
But if what he sensed was right, he needn’t fear. Much was going on beneath them, and they needed to hurry if they wanted any chance of stopping it.
“Let’s go!” he shouted and was quickly followed as he sprinted toward the manor.
The gate, which had been barred and sealed by more wards, swung open as he reached it, needing no encouragement, and he was treated to the stunned faces of those soldiers and Knights who’d been smart enough to abandon the walls before the wards fell apart.
Unfortunately for them, he had the true masters of the house with him, and no protection crafted from Elpen blood could stop them.
Wind howled at his command, killing several men and sending the more cautious ones flying back.
A lone knight managed to withstand his fury, but he was quickly forced to leap back, lest the water whip Nick had crafted relieve him of his head.
“Lady Rosmaria, what a surprise,” the man grunted as she entered.
Despite his words, he didn’t seem truly stunned by her presence, not that they’d expected anything different. Nestor had suspected her return, after all, and the Ultimers had been preparing for an attack for some time.
“Kill them,” Rosmaria said curtly.
Her eyes burned with a need for vengeance, and he knew she would have very much liked to take the matter into her own hands, but there were too many reasons for him to be the one to do it.
Obeying the order, Nick unleashed another howling gale, keeping the defenders from gathering.
“To me!” the Knight bellowed, planting a tower shield on the ground and activating a defensive skill.
But while he did his best, his allies were simply too rattled, not least because Nick was feeding fear and hesitation into his winds.
I really do love my crowd control. This would have been much harder otherwise.
The next few minutes were spent battering down the shield, while occasionally taking potshots at those foolish enough to try to rally, whittling their numbers down until only three Knights remained, now all safely ensconced behind the barrier.
Slowly, they began advancing, clearly intending to turn the fight into a melee to better take advantage of their physical stats, but Nick had no intention of letting them do so, and he’d been waiting for them to come together anyway.
[Hubris’ Reach] was a spell very few people could handle. It packed quite a punch, but it was its ability to bypass any barrier, as long as it wasn’t anchored to the ether like Nestor’s armor had been, that made it truly dangerous.
Nick watched dispassionately as the old knight’s helmet crumpled under the blow, and blood gushed out like an overripe watermelon.
As his shield flickered and died, the other two were too stunned to put up any resistance, so he sent a blade of [Conceptual Steam] at them, carving through their armor and leaving them in half.
CONGRATULATIONS!
You have defeated [Wullo Goea, Knight of House Ultimer - Level 81]
You have defeated [Helio Estates, Knight of House Ultimer - Level 73]
You have defeated [Soldier of House Ultimer - Level 61-65] x12
You have defeated [Germinio Lorches, Knight of House Ultimer - Level 91]
You have defeated [Lilion Shieldarm, Knight of House Ultimer - Level 83]
You have defeated [Domeric Noston, Knight of House Ultimer - Level 81]
+569,300 Exp
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter